are.na An Application by Charles Broskoski www.are.na Build ideas mindfully. Save content, create collections, and connect ideas with other people. ObsidianRoam ResearchWhat this site isOn Motivation thinkingnetworkshypermedianotetaking
On Motivation An Essay by Charles Broskoski www.are.na I’ve had this (semi-vague) idea that I want to write about what keeps us excited to work on Are.na, on the occasion of its 10th (yes 10th) birthday. While writing generally is a tricky process for me, this subject motivation is even trickier. In turning this subject around in my mind, and thinking about all the people and things that have been influential, I have some idea about what keeps us going. Nodal pointsInfinite varieties of contextsA lifelong projectGrowing in the correct way are.naThe slow blade penetrates the shield
It begins with craft Something strange is happening in the world of software: It’s slowly getting worse. Not all software, but a lot of it. It’s becoming more sluggish, less responsive, and subtly less reliable than it was a few years ago. In some ways this is hyperbole. Objectively, we’ve never been able to do so much, so easily with our smartphones and laptops and tablets. We’ve never pushed more data between more places more readily. But while the insidious “worseness” I mention falls only in part on the engineering side of things, it falls harder on the more subjective, craft side of things, making it all the more worrisome. Why should we care about this? Because the majority of our waking hours take place within the confines of applications. A truth recently amplified by the covid pandemic. And I believe software used by millions (if not billions) has a moral duty to elevate the emotional and intellectual qualities of its users. That elevation begins with craft. Craig Mod, Brilliant Hardware in the Valley of the Software Slump craigmod.com Apps Getting Worse performancecraftsoftware